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A Yissachar / Zebulun Partnership in Loving Memory of Yishak ben Simcha A"H & Felicia bat Miriam A"H
Rabbi Joseph Dana

Torah Lecture

Mishnah Avot 4-15

Lectured by Rabbi Joseph Dana

Published
June 15, 2025
Duration
2:30
Lecture code
RJD-MAVOT-4-15

This transcript was auto-generated and polished for readability. While we aim for accuracy, errors may occur. If you notice a mistake, please click to submit corrections.

It's not in our hands. We don't have the ability to understand the good things that wicked people may experience in this world, or the suffering of the tzaddikim, the righteous, in this world. In other words, why do bad things sometimes happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people? This understanding? Great question. Even Moshe Rabbeinu says the Gemara didn't have the ability to fully understand how Hashem interacts with this world: Why do we sometimes see the righteous, who should be rewarded, going through tough times, while wicked people who are doing many averot (transgressions), people who are reshaim (wicked people), are experiencing the good life in this world? This is the question that has bogged down Hachamim (sages) for thousands of years. Of course, Hachamim have proposed different answers to this question, but it is one of the most difficult questions that can be presented and understood about how Hashem works. So we don't have an answer to that. A person shouldn't lose his mind over that. He shouldn't exert himself to such an extent to try to understand something that's sort of beyond comprehension.

Rabbi Matya ben Charash says, “You should greet every person first, before they greet you, whether you're talking about a Jew or a non-Jew, or somebody who's at a lower level than you. It doesn't matter. When you do that, you're showing that you have humility and that you value the other person. You're showing that he's important to you, and that causes shalom, peace, among people.” That means if you have people greater than you, be the lower of that group. It's better to be part of a group of people who know and are wiser than you, as opposed to being the head of the foxes, where you're the top guy among people who are less wise than you were. When you're around people who know more than you, you'll have the ability to continue to challenge yourself and to grow, and you'll advance in who you are as a person. But when you're the head of the foxes, you're not really going to grow. You've hit the top of your group of people around you. You're not going to have the ability to advance in who you are as a person, in Chochmah, in wisdom, and in middot (character traits). So a person should always look to be around people who are greater than him, so he could continue to advance in life.